The Game
by Neb Canuck
Summary: After years of peace, new plots to unfurl the Second Empire begin unfolding. First comes the Pestilence, a disease which wipes out half the galaxy. Then comes the greatest plan of all... Dr. Grimour Drax makes a training program for the military which cou
1. Prologue

Prologue

  
  


This story takes place five hundred generations after the Mule made his bid for galactic domination. Many events have occurred, and yet the Second Empire still holds onto the galaxy. That is not to say, however, that the leadership has remained steady.

After the phycologists of the Second Foundation took over the role of galactic rulers, they reigned for two thousand years. During that time, the art of communication without words became widespread. The science was prosperous, and many new technological advances were made. During this time, however, many unforeseen events took place, due in the large part to the extreme technology that was developed. With great new weapons, Admiral Von Kaaar lead an attack against the galactic capital, Terminus, and conquered the scientific and political centre of the Empire. Soon even the Second Foundationers found themselves unable to prevent and internal collapse of the Empire, and Von Kaaar became the ruler of the galaxy.

Under him was formed a new dictatorship. The Military Union was formed and after Von Kaaar seized control of the galaxy, the Second Foundationers were brutally eliminated by the government. The people were oppressed and all males more than 18 and less than 40 years of age were forced to aid in the destruction of psychology. Despite their mental abilities, the psychologists were able to control only a number of people before the numbers of their foes overwhelmed them.

Long years passed with Von Kaaar as ruler, and when he finally died, via assassination, there was an official galactic holiday to celebrate that day henceforth. The assumed eliminated Second Foundationers turned out to be preserved through a small group of psychologists that had survived and donned the title "the Keepers". They went about secretly altering others in a mad attempt to restore the significance of the Seldon plan, placing the galaxy back on track in order to maintain order.

The Keepers, however, were never able to reassume command of the galaxy. Though the Military Union died with its founder, the results were enough to affect even ten generations later. The High Admirals of the Union found themselves caught up in a mad grab for power in the wake of the Union's fall. Admiral Forlurn, the former second-in-command to Kaaar was the first to take on the Empire, but without well-trained military strategists he soon found that the others were too much to handle. The Empire fell into a stage of anarchy, precisely as the Keepers had feared.

The one who finally managed to end the turmoil was the scientist, Keit Mannin. He became well known for his strategies, and yet he was the first leader for a thousand years to have a pacifistic view on his role as leader of the galaxy. He was able to reunite the squabbling groups lead by the Admirals' decedents.

The Plan was at risk, once again, but the Keepers managed to once again place the galaxy back on track.

After this point the following years were peaceful. For a good period of time, the Keepers were able once again to predict the course of events accurately. Always were physical scientists the rulers of the galaxy, 


	2. A Scientist

CHAPTER ONE - A SCIENTIST

  
  


Doctor / Scientist / Psychologist Grimour Drax- Throughout the latter years of the pre-Game, Grimour followed in the path of his father, Daryll Drax, by becoming the fifteenth Head Keeper . . . By many he was considered the most genius of the Head Keepers in history, however unlike his father he had an intricate secret agenda, which involved many criminal movements . . . The other Keepers were shocked to hear of his young death at the age of 41 . . . His task as Head Keeper was mainly to regain control of the Second Empire so that the Keepers could once again reign and train the human race the many secrets of mentalics . . . ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

  
  
  
  
  
  


Grimour Drax sat in his office, wondering about the Universe in general. (For many thousand years now, it had been the Universe which was observed by Humans rather than the Galaxy, due to the fact that by this point in time, the Second Empire spanned ten Galaxies) How had it come into existence? The scientists of the ancient days of Humanity had come up with the Evolution Theory. However, most of the newer sciences had led the studiers more and more toward the concept of Creation. Drax himself was not entirely sure if it was possible for an entity as great as that to exist, but perhaps a group of super-beings who, as a collective group was strong enough to create.

  
  


Not that this field was Drax's specialty. At first he had leaned toward the Development branch of science, looking for new and better technological advances. Recently, however, he had found himself intrigued by the Keepers of the Plan. His father had once been one of them, and had, in fact, been the being responsible for great advances on their part. Without him, Drax was sure that the well-hidden Keepers would have been hunted down and destroyed. Curse Mikhail Shanstov, the young scientist found himself thinking, If only he hadn't been so effective. 

  
  


Shanstov was a historical figure throughout the Empire. Drax had personally been so intrigued by the concept of a single man doing what Shanstov had, that he had memorized the small bit in the Encyclopedia Galactica that was listed in the most recent edition, that being the 5000th.

  
  
  
  


Emperor Mikhail Shanstov, first of the Great Conquerors In the five-thousandth year of the Foundational Era, Mikhail Shanstov became the sixth Emperor of the Second Galactic Empire. He is known for his greatness throughout the entire Universe, not only for his war faring feats, but also for his skilled mental work which eventually destroyed the Second Foundational leadership, who at the time were in charge of the Empire. The most interesting detail about him was that he, during his reign as Emperor, never once set a foot in the Throne Chambers. Instead, he had a duplicate of the Chambers created in his ship, the Fallen Titan.

During his time as leader of the Universe, Shanstov began his true reign when he began a rigorous scientific race to discover technologies never before dreamed of. The new developments caused the Seldon Plan (which the Second Foundationers depended upon to rule well) to be made obsolete. Without the Plan to use as a predictor of events, the Second Foundationers were driven out of their position by the beginnings of what would be known as the Great Revolution.

Shanstov then went out in his ship and, using only the Fallen Titan and two other ships, he destroyed half the fleet of the rebel Home One galaxy. After one last victory, however, the 36-year-old emperor disappeared with his ships never to be seen again.

  
  
  
  


Drax detested Shanstov for one reason: He alone had brought back to the Universe the hatred toward the Second Foundation which had for years been held at bay, and he alone beat the Second Foundationers in the only way they could have been defeated. All the battle cruisers in the Empire wouldn't have defeated the mental geniuses that had ruled the Empire during that period of time . . . only the destruction of Hari Seldon's masterful Plan could have done what it did.

  
  


In his hand, the small metal soda canister which he had drank clean was crushed in his frustration. For three years now, Drax had been a member of the Keepers' Federation, the last remnants of the Second Foundationers (or rather, since they were all in a role of leadership, it was more like the Second Foundationers' Speakers) and was soon to become Head Keeper. Many wondered at how powerful he was mentally, and most were quite eager to vote him into position as soon as the next election came to pass. If he was indeed the victor, he would be the youngest leader in history for either the Keepers or the Second Foundation. He was 24 at the moment, and the next election would likely be in the next year or two.

  
  


Drax new, however, that his time as Head Keeper would not be easy. His father had been renowned throughout the Universe for his deeds as Head Keeper; That was the problem. For years the Keepers had remained in hiding, and the Empire believed the Second Foundation to be dead. Daryll Drax saw that they would likely be found in good time, however, and thus started the Bridging Program. He was the first of the psychologists to take up physical science. He made sure, by splitting the Keepers into two groups - the Psychologist Preservers, who continued their studies of psychology and mentalics, and the Scientific Advancers, who applied that psychology to the physical realm and developed the weapons and defences of the Keeper Federation- that when the Empire came to destroy the planet, the Keepers would be safe. Grimour's job, as a direct result of the fact that his father had allowed the Keepers to be found, would be to regain control of the Empire for the Keepers.

  
  


And so, Grimour Drax, soon to be the leader of the so-called Takeover Movement, sat at his desk, reflecting on The Universe in general, hoping to come across a way to gain control of the Second Galactic Empire . . . the very Empire which, so many thousands of years ago, the very Second Foundation - which had been destroyed by those they controlled in that Empire - had guided from the position of a little backwater planet to the mighty Foundation Federation (or the First Foundation, as it was called by a few) and beyond, until it had become the mightiest Empire in the history of the Universe.


End file.
